I attended the first Bitcoin World Conference and Expo, held in a second-floor meeting room in a midtown Manhattan hotel, on a Saturday in August 2011. The virtual currency was powering an... (Awesome article!

Bitcoin Mike's insight:

Bitcoin will not die because it is an idea, and there is nothing more powerful than a really good idea. I really enjoyed this article, several good points in there.

The opening talk at the Bitcoin 2013 conference in San Jose was given by the Wilklevoss twins, purported owners of 1% of the world’s exist (RT @jeffreyatucker: @nlightn_up @jonmatonis @jerrybrito this thread prompted me to write this piece

Bitcoin Mike's insight:

Good article.

I will be very interested in future efforts to ligislate and regulate. I do know one thing for sure, Bitcoins (in the strictest sense) will not be "regulated" in the same way as dollars.

Bitcoin, as a matter of fact, was created and adopted early by people who think that the regulation of the money supply and the interest rate for the world's reserve currency of choice was leading to economic trouble like we saw in 2008.

I can tell you, based on my observations, that trying to regulate something you know nothing about is very dangerous and leads to problems.

This should be an easy fix based on the warrant. Get a new account and don't say "no" when they ask if you run a money transfer business. But now the cat's out of the bag and I bet registering with finCEN will be less than pleasant. It would not surprise me if Mark Karpeles is pursued to the full extent of the law to serve as an example here.

How can a virtual currency demand real power and real fuel, and have real-world environmental costs? Welcome to the world of "Bitcoin mining."

Bitcoin Mike's insight:

Wow, I don't know where to start.

Paper money comes from trees which must be cut down and is (should be) backed by gold which must be mined like fossil fuels. Don't insult our intelligence by comparing apples with oranges. The environmental impact of bitcoins is relatively low compared to other options.

The assumption here is that mining technology will always involve the use of graphics cards, this assumtption is blatantly false. If Mark spent half as much time researching as he does coming up with opinions he would know that ASIC technology is poised to create the same computational output with roughly 1% of the electricity needs. As this happens, bitcoin mining with archaic technology will no longer be profitable as the cost of power will exceed the bitcoins generated.

There isn't just a bubble in the Bitcoin economy, there's a bubble in the number of posts about Bitcoin. I'll pile on, even after this week's mini-crash, but with a twist.

Bitcoin Mike's insight:

Some very smart people here and some great information. Bitcoins in many ways are the free markets response to quantitative easing. Whichever system of exchange the market agrees upon will be the dominant system as long as we remain in a free society.

It’s hard to know which there are more of these days: the number of Bitcoins worldwide or the number of pundits who believe the newly popular crypto-currency is a fad, doomed to failure, or both, writes Barry Randall.

Bitcoin screw-ups have resulted in fewer Bitcoins but never more of themThe opportunity cost of Bitcoin is negativeArbitrage will provide a stabilizing mechanism

Paper money is usually created and distributed by goverments, in the case of Bitcoin, there is no government. With Bitcoin you have Miners. Bitcoin Miners are entities that use special software to solve difficult math problems, ...

Livemint Bitcoin – to regulate or not to regulate? - New Statesman New Statesman The virtual currency Bitcoin has pretty much taken the world by storm since it's launch in 2009.

Bitcoin Mike's insight:

This article is based on the premise that Bitcoin needs to be regulated, but also points out that the first countries to regulate will be the least attractive to investors. Indeed, it seems to indicate that a one world currency has been invented before the one world government.

This may mean that the citizens of the world are capable of inventing a means of exchange that would function without the interference of a third party.

A: That's not really news, that's speculation based on the CEO saying he's looking at a dusruptive technology.

B: Bitcoin users are not really searching for a third party to handle transactions. Even if they were, bitinstant and dwolla have a devestating first mover advantage over PayPal, which initiated their interactoin with bitcoins by essentailly thumbing their nose at it.

'Non-political' Bitcoin is 'like internet – can't be put away easily' RT “Bitcoin is a fundamental protocol for money over the internet.

Bitcoin Mike's insight:

Great article advocating bitcoins as a means to undermine the nation state. Certainly the potential is there.

It could very well be that the US senses a threat to their influence on the international monetary system and has therefore taken action against Mt.Gox.

It could also be related to the breached contract with Coinlabs, because the real winner here will be whoever takes over the North American trades.

If this is the crackdown we've been anticipating for the last four years, it's very pathetic. I think if the endgame here is the US verse Bitcoin, it was just a method to get the trades to be processed by a company in the US. If there ever is a standoff between the Feds and Cyber-currency users, servers in the US will be subject to seizure, while those in Japan (theorhetically) should not.

I am very interested to see what happens over the next 6 months or so, becasue US companies have attempted to shut down Pirate Bay servers in Sweden, but alas, the internet is not a physical place and Pirate Bay remains.

If the market decides to embrace bitcoins or any other virtual currency, the following revolution will be especially devestating for those who use their energy trying to protect an antiquated past. Either way, a lot of money is about to change hands here.

To many people besides Mr. Chilton, bitcoin’s legal color is not as clear: bitcoin still lives in the grey area between a currency and a commodity; the derivatives market has been largely a non-factor; and the logistics of regulating an...

Bitcoin Mike's insight:

Legislate away!

Not knowing what to do is apparently not an acceptable excuse for doing nothing!

Bitcoin's record highs and the ensuring surge in hacking attempts and thefts may be grabbing headlines. However, beneath the chaos, Silicon Valley's best-known venture firms are finally starting to make real bets around the crypto-currency...

“It’s far from certain that Bitcoin is going to be a big deal,” said Lightspeed Venture Partners’ Jeremy Liew, who has made two investments in the space. ”But the potential for disruption is enormous. If Bitcoin realizes its full potential, you’re talking about disrupting Visa, First Data, MasterCard, a lot of the banks, Western Union. These are huge multibillion dollars companies. It’s far from certain. But if it happens, a lot of value will be destroyed and a lot of value will be created. That’s when venture capitalists should be looking.”

Just in time for tax season, the Canada Revenue Agency has announced its policy for how you can declare BitCoins on your tax return.

Canada’s Revenue Agency says users of bitcoins are obligated to pay taxes on transactions using the alternative currency, the CBC reported.

The agency told the CBC that two tax rules apply to the digital currency, depending on how it’s used. Barter transaction rules apply to bitcoins used for goods or services, according to the report. Bitcoins bought and sold for speculative purposes are subject to captial gains or income taxes, depending on the specifics of the case, the agency says.

The real-world implications are beginning to be felt, as one realtor in Saskatoon quoted in the story has listed houses priced in bitcoins.

I see the logic here, but in the long run, this provides no incentive for people to use Canadian Dollars. Money that is placed on an exchange platform may be held in national currency or in bitcoins. National currency can be transfered into a bank and spent, or bitcoins can be transfered into a wallet and spent. This is an impotent legislation and a voluntary tax.

All press is good press and the sudden volatility attracted more people than ever who want to capitalize. From that increased exposure, there will be more acceptance and utilization as the currency continues to evolve. Good overview.

Just six weeks after the US Treasury decided enough-was-enough with this upstart non-fiat, non-controlled-by-TPTB currency (and applied money-laundering reglations), US financial regulators are now looking for supervisory control over Bitcoin. As The FT reports, CFTC's Bart Chilton notes "it's not monopoly money - real people have real risk in these instruments," and that regulating the controversial cyber-currency "is sure something [CFTC] needs to explore." Chilton's remit to regulate this "shadow currency" is predicated on it becoming a basis for derivative contracts as opposed to purely transactional (akin to the monitoring of physical oil transactions that can influence crude futures.) Since the Treasury's March decision, at least three North American companies have had their accounts seized by the banksbut while this attempt to control the virtual currency follows the ECB's 'ponzi attack' last year, the 'regulators' may note that, "even if US regulations make it hard for Bitcoin businesses to operate in the US, that doesn’t mean it will make it difficult for people to use Bitcoin as a currency in the US. Bitcoin is a world currency."

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